How do I fix high logd usage?

1. Wait a few minutes; short bursts are normal 2. Close the Console app if it's streaming live logs 3. Look for another process that is also busy or keeps crashing: it's often the one causing the log flood 4. Restart your Mac if it stays high

What is logd on Mac?

Q: Is it safe to quit logd?

Quit with care. macOS restarts it immediately, so quitting won't fix anything and can lose recent log messages.

By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed November 5, 2026

Collects and stores system log messages, the running diary that macOS and apps keep.

logd is the heart of macOS's unified logging system. Apps and system services constantly write short log messages; logd gathers them, keeps recent ones in memory and saves important ones to disk so problems can be investigated later, for example in the Console app. It's always running and is usually light.

Category: macOS system
Made by: Apple
Safe to quit:: With care

Shown in Activity Monitor as logd, logd_helper

Why is logd using so much CPU or memory?

An app or service writing huge numbers of log messages, often because something keeps failing
The Console app or the 'log stream' command showing live logs
A diagnostic report (sysdiagnose) being collected
The first hours after a macOS update

What to do

1Wait a few minutes; short bursts are normal
2Close the Console app if it's streaming live logs
3Look for another process that is also busy or keeps crashing: it's often the one causing the log flood
4Restart your Mac if it stays high

Safe to quit? With care.

macOS restarts it immediately, so quitting won't fix anything and can lose recent log messages.

Typical usage

Rough ranges on Apple Silicon Macs. Yours will vary.

CPU: 0–3%
Memory: 20–150 MB

Related processes

Part of the Taskglass Process Library